For my hairies, Zoey & Charlie

Hey friends and fans!

WAHP's heart blog is about to have it's first birthday, and I've been overwhelmed by the support and responses it's got over the year. I've just been looking back over the 18 blog posts so far, and it's amazing to have a record of the journey.

So we recently shot our co-ords collection, which is going so well that we're definitely going to make some more! You might have noticed this famous little bean in our images- Charlie Barker:

This is Charlie Barker, and she gets grief about armpit hair.

Luckily, Charlie's reaction to the disgust that people show towards her armpit hair, was at first like 'haha that's funny, they're going crazy about ma pits'', and now probably more like ''yawn'' because really, how much is there to say about pits? Apparently thousands of Instagram comments worth...

The other cutie pie in this pic is Zoey. Now, I don't know how much hate Charlie receives, my guess is loads because of the hate I've seen Zoey receive in the past. I know that a lot of followers of the brand are likely to be in similar positions too, because my main customer is girls aged 13-20, who use the internet a lot. I have not yet received hate, but I know people who have, and I want you to know, like Zoey, you're not alone.

At one point, Zoey's Tumblr, thewhiten0ise, had like 50k followers. I consider myself someone who knows Zoey well, so I know how good her heart is, and how loving, caring, considerate, compassionate, and beautiful she is. Zoey and I still don't know why some Tumblr users started on her.

 

The people who hated on Zoey anonymously, got away with verbal abuse, bullying, and wishing illness and death upon her. Zoey shut her Tumblr down 2 years ago and has come out the other end of her struggles, the most loving, free, determined and strong woman I know.

The key to how Zoey has overcome what was thrust upon her, although she would always admit it's never plain sailing, is that she found a way to talk about it. She sought help from friends, family, and professionals.

The reason this is so key, is because when you're trying to process feelings of maltreatment in your mind, you start to brood. Have you ever been misunderstood and been trapped for days inside your head having fake arguments with people? Scenes of wrongdoing can get played over and over in your mind, while you try and figure out why they said or did that, or what you did to deserve it, or your valid reasons and comebacks.

Brooding can lead to depression, emotional breakdowns, bitterness and resentment.

The thing about brooding, is that it doesn't process your feelings. The processing only ever happens in your mind, it doesn't get processed with the person involved or with a trusted friend or Councillor, especially if it's anonymous messages on tumblr- this stuff is literally thrust upon you when you're alone. So it develops, instead of being dealt with.

Difficult times come up often. It's not so much about avoiding them or trying to change them, but about putting boundaries in place to protect yourself, such as deleting a tumblr account so that anonymous users can't actually get in touch, then simply to ride out the worst of it, focussing on coming out the other end without any bitterness, anger, resentment, or depression, because these things eat away at your identity and other relationships, and that is far worse than the hate you got in the first place.

If anonymous tumblr comments had existed back in Jesus' times- He would have been inundated with hate. Learning to give grace and forgiveness by talking, will free yourself, and then you can also hope that when you mess up- that the same grace and forgiveness can be returned. How amazing would a world like that be. I wanna be a part of that fo' sho'.

So when people say, talking helps, and you don't think so, believe me, the alternative processes that your mind goes through is serious.

Here are some links that might help: Childline & Counselling 

The other thing I wanted to mention, is that when you go through difficulties like this, whether at school, online, with friends etc, the way you deal with it is essential to the development of your character. These things don't last forever, and when they're done, you want to be able to know that you are loving, caring, and fully free to be yourself. The reason Zoey is so amazing to me, is because although she's had the most difficult 5/6 years I could imagine, she's perfect. She can give advise from what she's learned. She can empathize with people because she knows what it's like, and the most impressive thing, she can still give and receive love openly after being hurt.

God has amazing things he wants to do through you Zoey, your perseverance and fight will bring great rewards for you and the people you meet in the future. Always keep going!

I write this blog in hope that what Zoey has gone through can help you, and maybe hi-light where you have brooded over an issue and it's affected who you are, so that you can be free to be the most fully you version of you!

You are amazing. You are important. You are free!

Lots of Love from

Sarah, Lizzie & Chloe

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